It should be understood that the editors of the various texts mentioned in Part I. have prefixed or appended thereto introductory matter of a less or more elaborate kind, and that they are
therefore, within their measure, to be regarded as critical editions. To these introductions I do not propose to refer in the present section, nor do I lay any claim either to analysis of contents or exhaustive bibliographical enumeration. The list will be useful for those who desire to carry their studies further, more especially along textual lines, and it has no higher pretension. As it follows, within certain limits, a chronological arrangement, it will help to indicate the growth of the criticism.
Joseph Görres: Lohengrin, ein alt Deutsche Gedicht, &c., 1813. The introduction is sympathetic and interesting as an early study of the Graal literature. The text is a Vatican MS. It may be mentioned that, according to Görres, Mont Salvatch stands in Salvatierra, in Arragonia, at the entrance into Spain, close to the Valley of Ronceval.
Le Roux de Lincy: Analyse critique et littéraire du Roman de Garin, &c., 1835. And Essai historique et littéraire sur l’abbaye de Fécamp, 1840.
This author also was a student of the subject, and his later work is still our authority for the Fécamp legend.
Paulin Paris: Les Manuscrits françois de la Bibliothèque du Roi, 7 vols., 1836-48, and Les Romans de la Table Ronde, 5 vols., 1868-1877.
In the first work is contained what I believe to be the earliest account of certain unprinted Graal texts. The second has modernised versions of The Metrical Joseph, The Book of the Holy Graal, The Early Prose Merlin, The Vulgate Merlin and the romance of Lancelot of the Lake. The long introduction is still interesting and valuable reading. Paulin Paris considered that The Metrical Joseph was founded on a Breton Gospel-legend, and that the original Graal text was a Latin Gradual.
Francisque Michel and Thomas Wright: Vie de Merlin, attribuèe à Geoffroy de Monmouth, 1837.
The elaborate introduction is useful for Merlin literature and for allusions to the prophet in other poems and romances.
San Marte, i.e. A. Schulz, Der Mythus van Heiligen Graal, 1837, regarded at one time as the best survey of the subject; the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach, in modern German, 1836-1842; Die Arthur-Sage und die Mährchen des rothen Buchs von Hergest, 1841; Die Sagen von Merlin, 1853; with other works and numerous contributions to periodical literature.
San Marte considered: (a) that the Lapis Exilis was the
[paragraph continues] Stone of the Lord, which at the beginning of all things was with God; (b) that the passage of the Graal to the Kingdom of Prester John was itself a suggestion of heresy, interior Asia being filled with numerous Christian sects; (c) that Wolfram depicted a Christian Brotherhood, or Kingdom of the Faithful, apart from pope and priesthood; (d) that the Graal was not a Christian relic; and (e) that Wolfram's Provençal Kyot may have been Guiot de Provins, that monk of Clairvaux who wrote the Bible Guiot and had himself visited Jerusalem.
Karl Simrock: The Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach translated into modern German, 1842, immediately after the completion of San Marte's enterprise and traversing his most important views; Parzival und Titurel, 1857.
This writer maintained: (a) That the original Graal Legend was connected with St. John Baptist, whose head was enshrined at Constantinople and was used to maintain the life of a dying emperor in the eleventh century; (b) that the Templar connections of the Parsifal were a mere reflection; (c) that the Templeisen were the Knights of San Salvador de Mont Réal--founded in 1120; and (d) that the Graal and its veneration suggest the Gnostic body called Christians of St. John.
T. H. de la Villemarqué: Les Romans de la Table Ronde et les contes des anciens Bretons, 1842; Contes Populaires de la Bretagne, 2 vols., 1846 (fourth edition); Myrdhinn ou l’Enchanteur Merlin (new edition), 1861.
In the last work Merlin is treated as a mythological, historical, legendary and romantic character. It is entertaining, but largely fantastic, and at the present day it is difficult to accept anything advanced by this writer without careful verification. He considered that a pagan tradition was received from the bards and, in combination with a particular presentation of the Eucharistic mystery, was passed on to the romancers of northern France. The Graal is Celtic, and the word signifies a basin.
Reichel: Studien zu Parzival, 1856.
This work was written in opposition to San Marte, and it denied that the theology of the twelfth century should be applied to the interpretation of the poem.
Louis Moland: Origines littéraires de la France, 1862.
(a) The old history, the high history, was contained in a Latin book; (b) it embodied that chivalrous ideal which it was sought to realise in the Temple; (c) this was connected
with another idea, namely, that of communion apart; (d) the vast cycle formed a systematic allegory; (e) but folk-lore intervened and a strange admixture followed; (f) it is doubtful whether the books of the Holy Graal can rank as orthodox; (g) beneath the allegory there are tendances suspectes; (h) the errors diffused among the Templars may have been reflected into works which evidently embody their principles.
S. Baring-Gould: Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, 1867.
At the period of its publication the essay on the Sangreal, contained herein, provided a certain knowledge in a popular form, but at this day it is without office or appeal.
F. G. Bergmann: The San Grëal, 1870.
I think that this account was the first to offer in English an outline of the Later Titurel, by A. von Scharfenberg. The two sources of all Graal romances are the Quest-poem of Guyot and a Graal-history written in Latin by Walter Map. The tract is translated from the French, but the fact is not specified.
Gustav Oppert: Der Presbyter Johannes in Sage and Geschichte, 1870. An interesting summary of the known facts concerning this mythical personage.
Zarncke: Zur Geschichte der Gralsage, 1876.
So far from being Provençal or Celtic, Graal literature has its source in the legends concerning Joseph of Arimathæa. The metrical romance of De Borron is the earliest in point of time and Chrétien drew therefrom, but also from the Quest of Galahad, which itself was preceded by some form of The Book of the Holy Graal. Guiot was an invention of Wolfram.
A. Birch-Hirschfeld: Die Sage, vom Gral, 1877; Ueber die den provenzalischen Troubadours des xii. and xiii. Jahrunderts, 1878.
The first work created a strong impression, and exercised great influence at its period. The history of Robert de Borron preceded Chrétien, who drew from De Borron's Perceval-Quest, on which Gautier also depended. The Longer Prose Perceval drew from the Quest of Galahad and The Book of the Holy Graal. The Graal is not Celtic, and Robert de Borron followed the Vindicta Salvatoris and the Gesta Pilati. His Sacred Vessel is one of sacramental grace. There is a powerful defence of the Didot Perceval, in which De Borron ingarnered Breton legends. The source of Wolfram was Chrétien, and him only.
E. Martin: The decisive findings of Birch-Hirschfeld were opposed by this writer in a German Journal of Archæology, 1878,
and in Zur Gralsage, Unterschungen, 1880. He maintained the Celtic origin of the legend, the possibility of a Latin version, the unlikelihood that the Didot Perceval belongs to the De Borron trilogy, and that the derivation of Wolfram was from a source other than Chrétien.
C. Domanig: Parzival-Studien (Two Parts), 1878-80.
A defence of Wolfram as an adherent of the Catholic faith.
G. Bötticher: Die Wolfram Literatur seit Lachmann, 1880.
A consideration of the argument for and against the indebtedness of Wolfram to no source but that of Chrétien and tending to the conclusion that another source is probable.
J. Van Santen: Zur Beurtheilung Wolfram von Eschenbach, 1882. A hostiles criticism of the poet's ethical position, founded, however, not on the limitations of the Parsifal, but on Wolfram's general concessions to the morality of his time.
W. Hertz: Sage vom Parzival und dem Gral, 1882.
The motive of the legends must be sought in the anti-Papal spirit of the British Church, within which it was, for this and other reasons, developed.
Paul Steinbach: Vber dem Einfluss des Crestien de Troies auf die altenglische Literatur, 1885.
An exhaustive study of the debt due to Chrétien and Breton tradition by the Thornton Syr Percyvelle.
M. Gaster: Jewish Sources of and Parallels to the Early English Metrical Legends of King Arthur and Merlin, 1887.
The contention is that the commerce between women and demons has its authority in the Talmud, to which I might add that the legendary orgies of the mediæval Black Sabbath have some of their roots therein. I do not think that comparisons of this kind serve much purpose.
Gaston Paris: La Littèrature française au moyen-age, 1888; Histoire Littéraire de la France, vol. xxx., 1888.
I cite two instances only from the long literary record of this excellent and charming scholar. It is impossible in a brief note to speak of his whole achievement. I will specify only one point with which I have just made acquaintance, and this is that, in his opinion, as independently in my own, the beginning and the end of Gerbert's alternative sequel to the Conte del Graal may have suffered alteration.
Alfred Nutt: Studies on the Legend of the Holy Graal, 1888.
The sub-title adds--"with special reference to the hypothesis of its Celtic origin." It was this work which paved a way for the criticism of the Graal literature in England, and I am certain that no more welcome offering could be made to
scholars everywhere than the issue of a new edition, with such extension and revision as would be warranted by the present state of our knowledge. Mr. Nutt has done more than any one in this country to promote the acceptance of the Celtic source in legend, but he has the gift of treating all the competitive hypotheses on every side of the subject with moderation and fairness. He regards the De Borron story as the starting-point of Christian transformation, and of late years he has shown some disposition to accept the possibility of Templar influence on the development of the literature. In 1902 Mr. Nutt published a pamphlet on the Legends of the Holy Graal which offers a serviceable summary.
Professor Rhys: Studies in the Arthurian Legend, 1891.
A development of Welsh analogies, a theory of Celtic origins, tinctured with the old dream of solar myths at the root of many of the stories.
Richard Heinzel: Ueber die franzoezischen Gralromane, 1891.
An elaborate and careful examination. The Longer Prose Perceval is said to depend from Gerbert, and the priority of the Quest is rejected.
G. M. Harper: The Legend of the Holy Graal, 1893.
Though it can be scarcely regarded as a work of original research there is here an useful resumption of results obtained by scholarship, showing an acquaintance with the original documents of the literature. The Graal, as typifying the Eucharist, was the beginning, middle and end of all the cycles. "It is as if a Divine hand had been holding the hands of all the writers of these books."
Miss Jessie L. Weston: I have mentioned already the English translation of the Parsifal, which has only one disadvantage, being its unfortunate metrical form. Since the period of its publication, Miss Weston has written: (1) The Legend of Gawain, 1897; (2) The Legend of Sir Lancelot du Lac, 1900; (3) The Three Days' Tournament, 1902; (4) The Legend of Perceval, vol. i., 1906. These are individual monographs, and the two last are of particular and high importance. Miss Weston has also translated several Arthurian texts not included in the great collection of Malory, and among these I will mention (5) the episode of Morien, 1901, derived from the Dutch Lancelot, and (6) Sir Gawain at the Grail Castle, 1903, being extracts from the Conte del Graal, Diu Crône, by Heinrich, and the prose Lancelot. The others are not of our concern exactly.
Among English writers, Miss Weston is our foremost textual
scholar in respect of the literature of the Holy Graal. In the Legend of Sir Lancelot she has dwelt upon the necessity of collating the numerous manuscripts of this vast romance with a view to the production of a sound text. Whether she herself projects this undertaking there is no means of knowing; perhaps it would be possible only to a concerted effort, but there is no single student who is better fitted for the task. In the Legend of Perceval she has made an important first-hand study of texts now extant of the Conte del Graal, and the results are with us. It is to her that we owe the discovery of the Fécamp reference in Manessier. The place of that abbey in the reliquary-history of the Precious Blood has been known, of course, to students since the collection of documents included by Leroux de Lincy in his account of the ancient religious foundation.
Dr. Sebastian Evans: In Quest of the Holy Graal, 1898.
An amazing dream, which identifies Innocent III. with the Rich Fisherman, the Emperor with the King of Castle Mortal, St. Dominic with Perceval, the Interdict of 1208 with the languishment and enchantments of Britain, and the question which should have been asked, but was not, with an omission of St. Dominic to secure the exemption of the Cistercians from certain effects of the Interdict. Lancelot is the elder Simon de Montfort; Gawain is Fulke of Marseilles; Alain le Gros is Alanus de Insulis, the universal Doctor; Yglais, the mother of Perceval, is Holy Church. The Graal is, of course, the Eucharist, which is denied to Logres. The speculation is founded on the Longer Prose Perceval, so that no distraction is caused by the presence of Blanchefleur, but as all French texts of quest speak of the removal or internment of the Sacred Vessel, it is a pity that the ingenuity which has woven this wonderful web should have passed such a point in silence. I fear that in all truth Dr. Evans has not succeeded in creating more conviction than, I suppose, has Dr. Vercoutre; but he has gifts in literature, gifts of entertainment and gifts of subtlety which are wanting to his French confrère.
Dr. Wendelin Foerster--who projected a complete edition of the works of Chrétien de Troyes--has published several texts, including (1) Erec und Enid, 5896; (2) Cligès, 1901; (3) Yvain, 1902.
As regards the Conte del Graal, he considered that its confessed prototype, the book belonging to Count Philip of Flanders, was not a quest of the Sacred Vessel but a prose account of the Palladium.
Paul Hagan: Der Graal, 1900.
This study has been welcomed warmly by scholars; it is valuable in many respects, but more particularly for the. German cycle, Guiot de Provence and his eastern elements Dr. Hagan suggests a Persian origin for the name Flegitanis = Felek thâni = sphæra altera.
Dr. A. T. Vercoutre: Origine et Genèse de la Légende du Saint Graal, 1901.
This tract claims to offer the solution of a literary problem. The legend of the Graal is based upon an error of translation. The supposed Vessel, or Vas, is the Celtic Vasso, and the romances really commemorate the Gaulish Temple of Puy de Dôme, mentioned by Gregory of Tours. It was originally Gaulish and dedicated to Lug, but it was Roman subsequently, and was then sacred to Mercury. It was a place of initiation and as such hidden from the world, like the Graal. The Temple was unearthed in 1873. This appears to be a frantic hypothesis.
W. A. Nitze: The Old French Graal Romance, 1902.
Here is an attempt to determine more fully the relation of the Longer Prose Perceval to Chrétien and his continuators. Mr. Nitze agrees that we have no certain knowledge as to the original form of Gerbert's poem.
C. Macdonald: Origin of the Legend of the Holy Graal, 1903.
This is, unfortunately, an introduction only to a large projected work, but the death of the author intervened. There is an interesting account of early apocryphal and later traditions concerning Joseph, Nicodemus, Pilate, Veronica, &c. The intention was--at the term of a full inquiry into the documentary sources--to consider whether the Graal tradition at its core was known under another form before it was adapted to Christian symbolism, "having been borrowed from a system of which it was a legitimate and undoubted growth and which presented many points in common with the hagiology and ritual of both eastern and western churches."
Dorothy Kempe: Legend of the Holy Graal, 1905.
This pamphlet was written to accompany the History of the Holy Graal of Lovelich or Lonelich. The prospectus of the Early English Text Society describes it as a capital summary. It is a reflection of previous English authorities.